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The political economy of reforming agricultural support policies

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Title The political economy of reforming agricultural support policies
 
Creator Vos, Rob
Martin, Will
Resnick, Danielle
 
Subject agriculture
agricultural policies
climate change
commodities
farmers
food security
greenhouse gas emissions
markets
market disruptions
nutrition
political systems
subsidies
trade barriers
 
Description Agricultural support policies cost more than US$800 billion per year in transfers to the farm sector worldwide. Support policies based on subsidies and trade barriers are highly distortive to markets and are also regressive as most support is provided to larger farmers. On balance, the incentives this support creates appear to increase greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. In addition, some subsidies undermine the production of more nutrient-dense commodities that are otherwise critical for the improvement of dietary outcomes. This paper first highlights that better outcomes could be achieved if even a small portion of agricultural subsidies were repurposed into investments in research and development (R&D) dedicated to productivity-enhancing and emission-reducing technologies. This would create multiple wins — mitigating global climate change, reducing poverty, increasing food security, and improving nutrition. Nonetheless, the political economy challenges to doing so are sizeable. Because current support policies are often politically popular and serve well-organized interests, reform is difficult without committed political leadership and multilateral collaboration. Using several case studies of both successful and failed changes of agricultural support policies in China, India, and the EU and the United States, we highlight lessons learned about the political economy constraints on and possibilities for reform.
 
Date 2022-12-31
2023-01-18T20:06:45Z
2023-01-18T20:06:45Z
 
Type Working Paper
 
Identifier Vos, Rob; Martin, Will; and Resnick, Danielle. 2022. The political economy of reforming agricultural support policies. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2163. Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136545
https://hdl.handle.net/10568/127455
https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.136545
 
Language en
 
Rights All rights reserved; no re-use allowed
Open Access
 
Format 45 p.
application/pdf
 
Publisher International Food Policy Research Institute